


Will I Remember?

by HSavinien



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Nile Freeman appreciation week, Nile Freeman-centric, POV Nile Freeman, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26342476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSavinien/pseuds/HSavinien
Summary: It's Darius's birthday.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	Will I Remember?

It's Darius's birthday, Nile realizes, halfway through sorting her laundry (lights, darks, heavy duty, discard as too destroyed…) It's her little brother's twenty first birthday and she'd sworn on their favorite ninja turtle action figures when she left (even though he was mostly joking about it at 17) that she would call him every birthday and sing the Happy Birthday song while he conducted. 

And she can't. 

She drops the bullet-shredded t-shirt and pulls out her phone to check his social media handles. He's got them pretty locked down, but she can still see birthday wishes from his friends and some new pictures of him, looking almost like an adult. She saves every one. Her mom is in one, looking so tired, even with Darius's arm around her. She saves that one too, methodically duplicating the pictures to every backup spot she has, until she realizes her vision is blurring. It feels like she's got a collapsed lung, her chest tight and aching, breath wheezing through her without giving her air. 

She drops, puts her head between her knees, and breathes through it, watching the dark spots wet the t-shirt beneath her. 

Eventually she texts Booker.  _ It's my brother's birthday. _

_ Tell Joe, he'll give you hugs. _

_ I don't want his hugs rn. _

_ Ah. It's shit and it's hard and I'm sorry. _

_Ty._

She gets up and heads for the living room where Nicky is cleaning his sniper rifle. He drops a brush when he sees her expression, face falling from welcome into sorrow. "Oh… Tell me?"

She sits in the corner of the couch, wraps her arms around herself and says, "Darius Freeman is twenty one today and named after a pharaoh. He likes Dragonball Z and drawing and skateboarding. He designs patterns for his friends' boards for extra money at college. When we were little we played ninja turtles and he didn't complain when I told him they were secretly also artists as well as crime-fighting mutant turtles. He graduated high school with a 3.85 GPA even though he hates physics because his teacher was a dick. He wants to write poetry, but he isn't very good at it yet. He's studying graphic design. He has a girlfriend named Ava, but they aren't very serious. She's nice. Darius likes carrot cake more than chocolate, even for birthdays…"


End file.
